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A review by daringreader13
The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
5.0
5.0 out of 5 stars
So I'm not usually a historical fiction person. However the two periods that normally draw me in are World War Two and anything about the Grand Dutchess Anastasia Romanov. So when I had to read a historical fiction book for my Internation Children and Adolescencs literature class, it made sense for me to pick the World War Two book. I was hesitent on picking this book up because with historical fiction with those two periods I will either REALLY like it or ABSOLUTELY hate it. And with this one I absolutely loved it!
First off I adored the writing style. It made me feel for the characters and want to know their stories. I will say the only negative is that at some moments the actual war aspects of the story got a bit lost on me but that is solely my fault because of not liking historical fiction.
The character building was amazing as well as the representation! The main character is disabled and has an abusive mother who never wanted children. The woman who takes them in is a lesbian (although its never fully stated as LESBIAN in bold letters because of the time period but she spells it out in every other letter) who also went as far as being collegiality educated and was shunned by her family. And the younger brother was written as realistically as a younger brother could be. You love him, you hate him, but you would do anything for him.
I felt so much for this novel. Especially in the relationship between Ada and the want to be loved by her abusive parent plus not being able to hate her. It's hard to deal with a parent that treats you as less than how you should be treated as their child, especially when you have someone else showing you how you should be treated. There was a line that really stuck with me and it was
"I wanted Mam to be like Susan.
I didn't trust Susan not to be like Mam." (page 184 in the paperback edition)
I think this really sums up what its like to have a parent who is any kind of abusive. In Ada's case her mom is physically abusive and so she fears that Susan will be physically abusive as well. But even when it comes to an emotionally abusive parent, you come to fear other's treating you the same way and I love that the author was able to show this to their audience.
We talk a lot in class about having mirrors in books in terms of characters and this was a perfect example of being able to see myself in a character. So I'm so glad I picked this book up! Now I need to pick up the second book ASAP!
So I'm not usually a historical fiction person. However the two periods that normally draw me in are World War Two and anything about the Grand Dutchess Anastasia Romanov. So when I had to read a historical fiction book for my Internation Children and Adolescencs literature class, it made sense for me to pick the World War Two book. I was hesitent on picking this book up because with historical fiction with those two periods I will either REALLY like it or ABSOLUTELY hate it. And with this one I absolutely loved it!
First off I adored the writing style. It made me feel for the characters and want to know their stories. I will say the only negative is that at some moments the actual war aspects of the story got a bit lost on me but that is solely my fault because of not liking historical fiction.
The character building was amazing as well as the representation! The main character is disabled and has an abusive mother who never wanted children. The woman who takes them in is a lesbian (although its never fully stated as LESBIAN in bold letters because of the time period but she spells it out in every other letter) who also went as far as being collegiality educated and was shunned by her family. And the younger brother was written as realistically as a younger brother could be. You love him, you hate him, but you would do anything for him.
I felt so much for this novel. Especially in the relationship between Ada and the want to be loved by her abusive parent plus not being able to hate her. It's hard to deal with a parent that treats you as less than how you should be treated as their child, especially when you have someone else showing you how you should be treated. There was a line that really stuck with me and it was
"I wanted Mam to be like Susan.
I didn't trust Susan not to be like Mam." (page 184 in the paperback edition)
I think this really sums up what its like to have a parent who is any kind of abusive. In Ada's case her mom is physically abusive and so she fears that Susan will be physically abusive as well. But even when it comes to an emotionally abusive parent, you come to fear other's treating you the same way and I love that the author was able to show this to their audience.
We talk a lot in class about having mirrors in books in terms of characters and this was a perfect example of being able to see myself in a character. So I'm so glad I picked this book up! Now I need to pick up the second book ASAP!